First Edition: February 12, 2020

Kaiser Health News: When Your Doctor Is Also A Lobbyist: Inside The War Over Surprise Medical Bills
When Carol Pak-Teng, an emergency room doctor in New Jersey, hosted a fundraiser in December for Democratic freshman Rep. Tom Malinowski, her guests, mostly doctors, were pleased when she steered the conversation to surprise medical bills. This was a chance to send a message to Washington that any surprise billing legislation should protect doctors’ incomes in their battle over payments with insurers. Lawmakers are grappling over several approaches to curtail the practice, which can leave patients on the hook for huge medical bills, even if they have insurance. (Pradhan, 2/12)

Kaiser Health News: Conservative Indiana Adopted Needle Exchanges But Still Faces Local Resistance
Back when Cody Gabbard was shooting heroin, his only significant human contact was with others in the throes of addiction, who only cared to see him when he had drugs. Then he walked into the basement of Fayette County’s courthouse in the eastern Indiana city of Connersville, where two women — a public health nurse and a recovery coach — ran a syringe exchange program. (Bruce, 2/12)

The New York Times: How Amy Klobuchar Pulled Off The Big Surprise Of The New Hampshire Primary
Senator Amy Klobuchar knew she might have an opportunity in New Hampshire’s presidential primary. As a fiscally moderate Democrat who opposes the “Medicare for all” and free four-year college plans of her liberal rivals, Ms. Klobuchar was in sync with the smaller-government tilt of plenty of Democrats in the state. Her emphasis on bipartisanship and pragmatism was a fit with New Hampshire’s large number of unaffiliated voters, or independents, who could participate in the Democratic primary. (Corasaniti, 2/12)

The Wall Street Journal: New Hampshire Democratic Primary: Top Takeaways
Just a few months ago, Ms. Warren was competing with Mr. Sanders for the lead in New Hampshire as the other New Englander in the race. But as results poured in on Tuesday, she struggled to break double-digits in what looked to be a distant fourth-place finish. Ms. Warren has seen a steady decline recently after surging last summer and through most of the fall, as attacks on how she would pay for her Medicare-for-All health-care plan appeared to pay dividends for her rivals. (Siddiqui, 2/12)

Politico: Sanders Ekes One Out, But The Revolution Has Yet To Arrive
According to exit polls, 57 percent of voters on Tuesday were female, up two points from 2016. A majority of voters were college graduates (53 percent), liberal or somewhat liberal (60 percent), and their three big issues were health care, climate change and income inequality. A big majority supported single-payer (61 percent). (Lizza, 2/12)

The Hill: Klobuchar: 'We Need To Build A Big Tent' For Anti-Abortion Democrats
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) on Tuesday said that the Democratic Party should be a "big tent" for people of different beliefs, including those who oppose abortion rights. Klobuchar, who is running as a centrist candidate and alternative to Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), said while she is "pro-choice" but she doesn't think the party should shut out Democrats who disagree. (Hellmann, 2/11)

The Associated Press: Former Staff Claims Iowa Center Exploited Disabled Patients
Two doctors and other former employees of an Iowa care center for people with intellectual disabilities have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against a state agency and several officials, alleging a conspiracy to silence complaints about sexual arousal research that included using pornographic material that they claim exploited fragile and dependent residents. The allegations center on Jerry Rea, the former superintendent of the Glenwood Resource Center, a researcher hired in 2017 by the state of Iowa from Kansas. (2/11)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Live Updates: The Illness Now Has A Name: COVID-19
The World Health Organization on Tuesday proposed an official name for the illness caused by the new coronavirus: COVID-19. The acronym stands for coronavirus disease 2019, as the illness was first detected toward the end of last year. (2/11)

Time: What's In A Name? Why WHO's Formal Name For The New Coronavirus Disease Matters
“Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatizing,” said Director-General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “It also gives us a standard format to use for any future coronavirus outbreaks.” The WHO referenced guidelines set in 2015 that ensure the name does not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or group of people, while still being pronounceable and related to the disease. (Mansoor, 2/11)

The Associated Press: New Name For Disease Caused By Virus Outbreak: COVID-19
The new name comes from “coronavirus," the type of virus that causes the disease. Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that can cause the common cold and some more serious diseases, including SARS, which killed 800 in 2002-2003 and the Middle East respiratory syndrome, which continues to cause sporadic cases and is believed to jump to humans from camels. (2/11)

Reuters: Coronavirus Cases Fall, Experts Disagree Whether Peak Is Near
China reported on Wednesday its lowest number of new coronavirus cases since late January, lending weight to a prediction by its senior medical adviser that the outbreak could end by April. Global markets took heart from the outlook but other international experts are alarmed at the spread of the flu-like virus, which has killed more than 1,100 people, all but two in mainland China, and said optimism could be premature. (Woo and Geddle, 2/12)

The Associated Press: China's New Virus Cases Fall Again, Deaths Now Exceed 1,100
The National Health Commission on Wednesday said 2,015 new cases had been reported over the last 24 hours, declining for a second day. The total number of cases in mainland China is 44,653, although many experts say a large number of others infected have gone uncounted. The 97 additional deaths from the virus raised the mainland toll to 1,113. (2/12)

Reuters: China's Huanggang Says Virus Situation In City Remains Severe
China's Huanggang city, one of the hardest hit by the coronavirus outbreak, is still facing a severe virus situation and a lack of medical supplies, its Communist Party boss said on Tuesday. Huanggang is located in the central province of Hubei near to Wuhan, believed to be the epicentre of the outbreak. Huanggang has recorded the second highest number of deaths from the virus after Wuhan. (2/11)

The Wall Street Journal: At Outbreak’s Center, Wuhan Residents Question Accuracy Of Virus Tests
Medical experts around the globe have expressed fears that the scale of the outbreak could be much larger than Chinese data suggests—in large part because of concerns about potential flaws in testing. Independent experts say many tens of thousands of Wuhan residents are likely infected by the coronavirus, while the city’s government puts the tally at less than 20,000. Only one in 19 infected people in Wuhan was being tested and confirmed, according to an estimate by Imperial College London as of Jan. 31. (Deng, 2/11)

The New York Times: A Store, A Chalet, An Unsealed Pipe: Coronavirus Hot Spots Flare Far From Wuhan
An apartment building in Hong Kong, its units linked by pipes. A department store in the eastern Chinese city of Tianjin, where more than 11,000 shoppers and employees mingled. A ski chalet in France, home base for a group of British citizens on vacation. These sites, scattered around the world, have become linked by a grim commonality: They are places where pockets of new coronavirus cases have emerged in recent days, raising fears about the virus’s ability to spread quickly and far beyond its origins in central China. (Wang, Ramzy and Specia, 2/11)

The New York Times: Huge Shelters For Coronavirus Patients Pose New Risks, Experts Fear
As the new coronavirus continued to spread unabated within the city of Wuhan, China, government officials last week imposed draconian measures. Workers in protective gear were instructed to go to every home in the city, removing infected residents to immense isolation wards built hastily in a sports stadium, an exhibition center and a building complex. (Rabin, 2/11)

The Wall Street Journal: China Fires Highest-Level Officials Yet Over Coronavirus Outbreak
Beijing fired the highest-ranking officials yet over the handling of the coronavirus outbreak, replacing two provincial health officials in charge of virus-racked Hubei province with a trusted official from China’s national health agency. The director and Communist Party secretary of Hubei’s provincial health committee were removed, state broadcaster China Central Television reported Tuesday, making them the highest-level officials known to be punished for the government’s handling of the outbreak. (Mendell, 2/11)

The Washington Post: For China’s Leaders, Pop-Up Hospitals Are About Politics As Much As Health
Some of the workers were replacing the small “Fever clinic” sign with a huge “Fever clinic” sign. Others were arranging the flower planters out front to ensure the place looked perfect. On that recent afternoon, a delegation of officials and attendant state media journalists would be arriving at the new coronavirus treatment unit in Fuqing, in southeast China. For the authorities, it was not enough to have built the 200-bed center in a matter of days; it also had to sparkle for the cameras. (Fifield, 2/11)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Infections On Diamond Princess Cruise Ship Swell To 174
Authorities in the virus-hit city of Wuhan have announced fresh restrictions on residents, making millions of people virtual prisoners in their own homes. Two provincial health bosses have been fired as the Communist Party struggles to contain widespread anger over the spread of the virus. (Denyer, Hawkins, Noack, O'Grady and Berger, 2/11)

The Washington Post: Global Experts Study Promising Drugs, Vaccines For New Virus
The World Health Organization convened outside experts Tuesday to try to speed the development of tests, treatments and vaccines against the new coronavirus, as doctors on the front lines experiment on patients with various drugs in hopes of saving lives in the meantime. The 400 scientists participating in the two-day meeting — many remotely — will try to determine which approaches seem promising enough to advance to the next step: studies in people to prove if they really work. (Keaten and Cheng, 2/11)

Stat: Major Drug Makers Haven't Stepped Up To Make NIH Coronavirus Vaccine
No major pharmaceutical company has come forward to say it would manufacture a vaccine for the novel coronavirus currently being developed by the National Institutes of Health, a top U.S. official acknowledged Tuesday, a reality that he called “very difficult and very frustrating.” The comments by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, highlight how challenging it could be to translate the NIH’s work, being undertaken in partnership with the biotech company Moderna Therapeutics, into a vaccine that could be marketed. (Florko, 2/11)

Los Angeles Times: China's 'People's War' Against Coronavirus Seen By Many As Unorganized Propaganda
It’s a classic Chinese campaign, harking back to Chairman Mao’s methods of inspiring patriotism and mobilizing the masses: Bright red banners and posters with large characters quoting the state leader’s slogans adorn every neighborhood. Communist Party workers march through villages against a deadly enemy, banging gongs and shouting orders dictating every individual’s behavior. They strap on red armbands and go door-to-door — promising, in some cases, financial rewards for neighbors who snitch on those who break the rules and, in other cases, threatening to punish those who resist. (Su, 2/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Beware Of Wall Street’s Armchair Epidemiologists
Investors and analysts are racing to figure out how far the coronavirus outbreak will spread and what its eventual impact will be. Unfortunately, many are making assumptions that actual disease experts caution against. Some of Wall Street’s reassuring statements about the epidemic could be wildly off, and so, too, their expectations of the economic disruption the virus could cause. As of Monday afternoon there were 40,787 confirmed cases of coronavirus around the world, according to Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering data: 40,196 in China’s mainland and 591 elsewhere. (Lahart, 2/11)

Reuters: 'Everyone Is Guessing' About Coronavirus Economic Impacts, Say Experts
The coronavirus that spread from a seafood market in Wuhan, China to infect tens of thousands has shuttered businesses, grounded flights and killed over 1,000 people so far, mostly in China. As the world's second-largest economy struggles to get back to work after an extended Lunar New Year holiday, analysts and bankers have been revisiting their estimates of the economic impact of the virus. (Kerber and Timmons, 2/12)

Politico: China Warns Against Virus-Related Trade Restrictions
China warned other countries on Tuesday that an "overreaction" to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak through trade restrictions could have a negative impact on the global economy. Beijing made the statement at a meeting of the World Trade Organization, where it noted that it is a large contributor to global economic output and growth, according to a Geneva-based trade official. (Behsudi, 2/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Travel Industry Set For Multibillion-Dollar Hit From Coronavirus
While the number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. remains small, the reverberations of a worsening outbreak across the Pacific are being felt in the American tourism industry. Airlines have canceled flights between the world’s two biggest economies into April, and the U.S. has banned noncitizens who traveled recently to China from entry. That effective freeze on visitors from China is a blow to hotels, retailers and other businesses that have come to rely on their spending. (Morris and Hufford, 2/12)

Reuters: Japan Cruise Ship Coronavirus Cases Climb To 175, Including Quarantine Officer
Another 39 people have tested positive for the coronavirus on the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined in Japan, with one quarantine officer also infected, bringing the total to 175, the health ministry said on Wednesday. The Diamond Princess was placed in quarantine for two weeks upon arriving in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, on Feb. 3, after a man who disembarked in Hong Kong was diagnosed with the virus. (2/12)

The New York Times: Quarantined Cruise Passengers Have Many Questions. Japan Has Few Answers.
The 3,600 people aboard the Diamond Princess, locked down for more than a week and desperate for information, have been reduced to peering out windows as hazmat-suited workers take away the newest coronavirus patients and mysterious buses, their interiors shrouded by curtains, come and go from the port. They have Wi-Fi, but it is spotty, and even if it were not, they might search in vain for information about their plight from tight-lipped Japanese authorities. (Rich and Dooley, 2/11)

The Washington Post: Diamond Princess Crew Fear No Protections From Coronavirus On Ship
Crew members aboard the virus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship say they are terrified of catching the deadly coronavirus yet aren't being afforded the same protections as the passengers they serve. Ten shipboard workers have been confirmed as having caught the virus, and others feel sick — but unlike the passengers, no effort is being made to keep them apart from one another, they said. (Denyer, Dutta and Kashiwagi, 2/11)

Reuters: U.S. Evacuees Freed From Coronavirus Quarantine, Officials Fear Discrimination
Nearly 200 people evacuated from the China coronavirus outbreak were released from quarantine in California on Tuesday with officials urging Americans not to shun them, or workers who helped them, after both groups faced discrimination. The 195 U.S. citizens, mostly U.S. State Department employees and their families, underwent the United States' first mandatory quarantine since 1963 after they were evacuated from the coronavirus-stricken Chinese city of Wuhan. (2/11)

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus Quarantine Ends As Evacuees Leave Riverside Base
After flying halfway around the world to flee a deadly viral outbreak and then spending two weeks quarantined at a California military base, a group of Americans evacuated from China couldn’t help but celebrate Tuesday morning. Following a series of final screenings, all 195 Americans quarantined amid the coronavirus outbreak were cleared to leave March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, where they had been confined the last 14 days. (Shalby, 2/11)

NPR: 195 Americans Released From Coronavirus Quarantine At Southern California Air Base
The group, which faced numerous health screenings both in China and during their trip and quarantine, has now been "medically cleared," health officials said Tuesday, making it possible for them to leave the March Air Reserve Base in Southern California. "Our guests at March Air Reserve Base are happy to see an official end today to their 14-day quarantine and are looking forward to returning home. We wish them well!" Riverside University Health System - Public Health said via Facebook Tuesday, posting an image of the evacuees gathered together outside, tossing blue face masks into the air. (Chappell, 2/11)

The Associated Press: Virus Puts Hong Kong Protests On Ice. Will They Return?
The crowd lining up recently on a cold, dark Hong Kong street wasn't part of the anti-government protest movement that rocked the semi-autonomous Chinese territory for months. Their demand: surgical masks, now in short supply as fears grow over a new virus that has claimed more than 1,000 lives across the border in mainland China and one in Hong Kong. (Ng, 2/11)

The Associated Press: 2 Russians Flee Virus Quarantine, In Dismay At Hospitals
One patient jumped out of a hospital window to escape her quarantine and another managed to break out by disabling an electronic lock. Two Russian women who were kept in isolation for possible inflection by a new virus say they fled from their hospitals this month because of uncooperative doctors, poor conditions and fear they would become infected. Russian health authorities haven’t commented on their complaints. (Heintz and Litvinova, 2/12)

The Washington Post: British Coronavirus ‘Superspreader’ May Have Infected At Least 11 People In Three Countries
The story of a traveling British businessman who appears to have passed the coronavirus to Britons in at least three countries has prompted concerns over a "superspreader" who could play an outsize role in transmitting the infection. A British national may have unwittingly spread the pneumonia-like virus to at least 11 people in the course of his travels from Singapore to France to Switzerland to England, according to public health authorities and accounts in the British media. (Adam, 2/11)

The Associated Press: US Survey Finds Smaller Decline In Medical Bill Worries
The proportion of people in families struggling to pay medical bills is down, but the number isn't dropping like it used to, according to a big government study. In a 2018 national survey, just over 14 percent of people said they belonged to a family struggling with those bills, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday. That’s a big drop from nearly 20 percent in 2011 but only slightly less than the proportion who reported the problem in 2016 and 2017. (Murphy, 2/12)

Reuters: Surprise Surgery Bills Happen Even When Patients Plan Ahead
Even among those who did their best to go where their insurance was accepted, 21% still got surprised by out-of-network bills. And tabs were not small, averaging more than $2,000. "We had no idea how often this actually happened or how damaging it could be," said Dr. Karan Chhabra, of the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation in Ann Arbor and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who led the study. (2/11)

NPR: Surprise Billing Is As Common After Elective Surgery As In Emergencies
The study arrives during a time when Congress is debating how to address this problem. The two bills under discussion take differing approaches to resolving these outstanding payments when they're no longer placed on the shoulders of patients. Either of the two bills would be an improvement over the status quo, Cooper says. But it's unclear what measures will really make it into law. "The devil's obviously in the details," Chhabra says. (Renken, 2/11)

The Hill: House Panel Advances Bipartisan Surprise Billing Legislation Despite Divisions
The House Education and Labor Committee on Tuesday approved a bill to protect patients from massive “surprise” medical bills, but not before a vigorous debate that showed the divides within both parties on the issue. The vote of 32-13 sent the measure to the full House. But competing proposals must be reconciled before the chamber can vote on the issue, which is a rare area of possible bipartisan action this year. (Sullivan, 2/11)

The Hill: Conservative Lawmakers Warn Pelosi About 'Rate-Setting' Surprise Billing Fix
Conservative Republicans came out against a bipartisan proposal that would end the "surprise" medical bills patients sometimes get from doctors and providers. In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) dated Monday, 39 Republicans, led by Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) warned against passing a bill that would impose what they see as "government-dictated price controls" on private negotiations between insurers and providers. (Hellmann, 2/11)

The Hill: White House Warns Of Raising Health Costs In Debate Over Surprise Medical Bills
The White House on Tuesday stepped farther into the contentious debate over legislation to protect patients from surprise medical bills, weighing in with a warning against one approach to the problem. A statement from the White House warned against the overuse of arbitration to resolve billing disputes, saying it could drive up health care costs. That means the White House is raising concerns with an approach from the House Ways and Means Committee in favor of a rival approach favored by both the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Education and Labor Committee. (Sullivan, 2/11)

The New York Times: A $4 Million NICU Bill: The Price Of Prematurity
Eric Brown and his wife, Stacey, were stunned to learn that Stacey was pregnant again and even more surprised that not one — not two — but three more babies were on the way. “They were naturally conceived, so this was a complete and total surprise,” said Mr. Brown, 37, a high school special education teacher. He and his wife, who live in College Station, Texas, about 90 miles northwest of Houston, already had two children. The second trimester did not go smoothly: Ms. Brown developed infections that led to an unplanned cesarean section at the Woman’s Hospital of Texas in Houston. (Caron, 2/11)

The New York Times: ‘It’s Pretty Brutal’: The Sandwich Generation Pays A Price
When Tanya Brice’s mother moved into her apartment in Owings Mills, Md., five years ago, she was already caring for twin toddlers, one of whom has autism and an intellectual disability, and a teenage son. Brice, 43, is a single mom, and was supporting the household on a social worker’s salary. Her budget and schedule were stressed to the breaking point. Her mother, Janice, was medically fragile — she had hepatitis C and diabetes — and Medicaid wouldn’t pay for a home health aid, so that came out of Brice’s pocket, along with the money for higher electricity bills from her mother’s ventilator, and the extra food and necessities her mother needed. (Grose, 2/11)

The Hill: McConnell: GOP Has 'Internal Divisions' On Bill To Lower Drug Prices
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday said Senate Republicans have “internal divisions” on a bill to lower drug prices and that he does not know yet whether the measure will get a vote. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) for months has been calling for action on his bipartisan bill to lower drug prices with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), noting that it is also backed by the White House and could help vulnerable Republicans in their reelection campaigns. (Sullivan, 2/11)

Reuters: U.S. Judge Drops Some Charges Against Theranos's Holmes, Leaves Wire Fraud
A federal judge late on Tuesday dismissed some charges against Theranos Inc founder Elizabeth Holmes, but let stand wire fraud charges accusing her and an associate of misleading patients about the abilities of her company's blood tests. The court ruled that since the tests were paid by their medical insurance companies the patients were not deprived of any money or property in taking Theranos blood testing services. (2/12)

The Associated Press: Tenet Healthcare To Pay $1.4M To Settle Cardiac Lawsuit
Tenet Healthcare Corporation and its Southern California hospital Desert Regional Medical Center will pay $1.41 million to resolve allegations that they knowingly charged Medicare for implanting unnecessary cardiac monitors in patients, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed by former hospital employee Michael Grace saying that Tenet and Desert Regional violated the federal False Claims Act, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release. (2/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Growing Risk To America’s Seniors: Themselves
Rising numbers of older adults are unable to care for themselves, often leading to serious health problems and even death, according to state and local government agencies. So-called self-neglect cases generally involve the inability to perform essential self-care, such as providing oneself with food, shelter, personal hygiene, medication and safety precautions. Seniors who no longer drive, for example, are often unable to get to medical appointments, exacerbating health problems that can render them incapable of caring for themselves. A fall can result in a hip fracture leaving one bedridden and unable to care for oneself. Failure to pay bills for the phone or other utilities could lead to service cutoffs. Forgetting to pay rent could lead to the loss of a home. (Hayashi, 2/11)

The Associated Press: Epilepsy Treatment Side Effect: New Insights About The Brain
Though Genette Hofmann is still using her brain, last month she donated a bit of it — to science. Hofmann needed the surgery — her Seattle surgeon was looking deep into her brain, where he found the trigger for the epileptic seizures that had disrupted her life for 30 years. But to get there, he teased out a bit of healthy tissue the size of a lima bean, and with her blessing quickly sent it to some researchers, who were eager to study brain cells while they were still alive. (2/11)

NPR: Why Breastfeeding Rates Are Lower Among Black Moms
To explain the persistence of lower rates of breastfeeding among black mothers, we should look to systemic and historic factors rather than individual choice. That's the argument of Skimmed: Breastfeeding, Race, and Injustice (Stanford University Press) by law professor Andrea Freeman, which provides in-depth historical, socioeconomic and legal context that sheds new light on black motherhood. (July, 2/11)

The New York Times: Combining Aerobics And Weights Tied To Optimal Weight Control
To stave off obesity, we might want to both stride and lift, according to an important, large-scale new study of how different types of exercise affect the incidence of obesity in America. The study, which involved health records for almost 1.7 million men and women, indicates that people who exercise in almost any way are less likely to be obese than those who are sedentary. But the study also finds that the odds of being normal weight are greatest for those who complete both aerobic exercise and weight training, at least occasionally. (Reynolds, 2/12)

Reuters: Mother's Beauty Products Might Impact Girls' Weight Gain
Mothers who use beauty products containing chemicals known as parabens during pregnancy may be more likely to have overweight daughters, a small study suggests. Babies tended to be heavier at birth, and more likely to become overweight by age 8, when mothers used makeup, lotions and other common beauty products containing parabens while pregnant, the study found. One of these chemicals, butylparaben, was associated with excess weight only in girls. (2/11)

The New York Times: Sugary Drink Consumption Plunges In Chile After New Food Law
Four years after Chile embraced the world’s most sweeping measures to combat mounting obesity, a partial verdict on their effectiveness is in: Chileans are drinking a lot fewer sugar-laden beverages, according to study published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Medicine. Consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks dropped nearly 25 percent in the 18 months after Chile adopted a raft of regulations that included advertising restrictions on unhealthy foods, bold front-of-package warning labels and a ban on junk food in schools. (Jacobs, 2/11)

The Washington Post: Virginia General Assembly Crossover: Action On Guns, Minimum Wage, Casinos
Virginia Democrats are delivering on the liberal agenda they promised for this year's General Assembly session, pushing through hundreds of bills that undo years of Republican leadership and change course on significant issues. In a cascade of votes Monday and Tuesday ahead of a legislative deadline, the new Democratic majority advanced measures to protect LGBT residents, help undocumented immigrants, protect the environment, fund roads and raise the minimum wage. (Schneider, Vozzella and Sullivan, 2/11)

The Associated Press: Death Toll In Camp Fire Probably Includes 50 More People, Report Says
Doctors and other experts say at least 50 more people, many of them elderly or ill, probably died as a result of the 2018 wildfire that devastated the town of Paradise, Calif., but were not counted in the official death toll, an investigation by the Chico Enterprise-Record found. Authorities have said the deadliest wildfire in California history killed 86 people. But the newspaper reported Tuesday that it had identified at least 50 more people whose deaths were linked to the fire but not attributed to it. (2/11)